Chapter 14 #2
Asher looks above us to where the storm churns in a broad spiral, lightning forking through the clouds in patterns that mirror no natural weather system I've ever seen. “You’re just going to let her burn out? To be so overwhelmed that she detonates?”
“Arcana’s safety is our only concern.”
“Then give her back, and we’ll leave Arcana. My sisters never wanted to come in the first place. Briar forced them to be here so she could help when Violet’s powers surfaced. If you’d just left her with the healers, the storm would be handled already.”
“Says the foul-mouthed, demon-tainted—”
“Enough!” One of the giant birds shouts, and steps forward, beak clacking. “You bicker in circles but solve nothing.”
I straighten and meet its cold gaze. “Because there is only one acceptable outcome here. I will take my sister back to the academy, so her awakening doesn’t consume her.”
“And if we agree. Will you leave Arcana and never return?”
“Happily.”
“And will you take all who carry the taint of your family’s alignment with the demon with you?”
“It’s more of a curse than an alignment, but yes. Give me my sister, and when Dr. Thorne says she can leave, Violet, Lily, and I will leave this place and never come back.”
Asher’s arm comes around my shoulder. “Or you can keep her prisoner until she detonates, and then explain the unnecessary death of a student of Arcana to the parents and council who trust you with their children’s safety. So much for your guardian code of honor.”
The guardians share a look that suggests they hadn’t thought of that. Then they look at me. "The male will need to remove his shield for you to enter our compound.”
Asher stills beside me. "We’re standing on the edge of a cliff in a storm in front of a thing that just tried to take our heads off. If I take the shield down…"
"I know."
"I'm not saying no. I'm saying I want to make sure you know."
"I do. If we want it to let us through, we have to show it we're not a threat. If trusting it is the price we pay, I’ll pay it.”
Asher glares at the guardian. "Just so we're clear, if you try to crush her with your talons or your beak, or whip us off this cliff with your wings, it won’t be just me coming for you, it will be the Goddess Mother herself.”
The guardian looks back at him with no expression whatsoever. The grinding sound it makes with its beak might be a response. It’s hard to tell.
After another shared look between the massive birds, they turn away from the cliff’s edge. "Come. We will take you to your sister."
The guardian colony is bigger than I expected.
We follow the three birds that threatened us at the cliff’s edge through a series of wide stone terraces carved into the peak. Each one drops slightly lower than the last, connected by channels worn smooth from centuries of claws and wind.
Other guardians watch us pass. Some are enormous, larger even than the ones leading us. Some are smaller, younger maybe, with feathers that haven't fully settled into their adult coloring.
All of them watch with the same absolute, unblinking assessment.
Asher walks slightly too close to my shoulder. "Okay," he says under his breath, barely moving his lips, "I'm a little bit in love with them, but also I'm very aware that at any moment we could be their prey."
"Stop talking," Mica says pleasantly, from his other side. “You’re going to jinx us.”
"I'm just observing."
"Observe in a way that doesn’t envision us as bird food."
The Guardian leads us to the lowest terrace, and we step out onto an open balcony. The stone nest is enormous, built into a natural depression in the rock, ringed by boulders that have been worn into smooth curves over what I'd guess is a very long time.
Inside it, tucked against something warm and feathered and immense, is Violet.
She's curled on her side, with her knees drawn up, and her arms wrapped around herself.
The guardian curved around her is unlike any of the others we've passed. The feathers are a deep charcoal streaked with silver, and the crown—a ridge of long feathers that arc back from the brow—is pure white.
Violet is crying. Small, exhausted, wrung-out, crying.
"Vi?”
Her head comes up, and for a second she looks at me as if she's wondering if I'm real.
Then she scrambles out of the nest, closes the distance, and hits me hard enough that I stumble back a step. With both of my arms locked around her, she buries her face against my shoulder.
“Shh, I’ve got you. I’m here now and I’m going to get you back to the healers.”
She sobs against me, and I keep my arms tight around her. “I was so scared.”
“Of course you were. But it’s over now. I’ve got you. Here, take these.” I pull out the two conduits and place one in the palm of each of her hands. “Close your eyes and breathe. Everything is all right now. I’ve got you.”
Above us, the storm softens. The pressure in the air shifts, the driving wind eases, the lightning retreats, and the rain gentles.
The great guardian in the nest rises. She unfolds slowly, regally, and her wingspan catches the wind as she stretches. Her crown feathers arc upward in full display for one breathtaking moment before they spread wide against the dark sky.
She steps down from the nest, resettles her majestic feathers, and walks toward us.
I'd bet money that's the matriarch.
Violet pulls back after a while, swiping at her face with her sleeve, and takes a long, unsteady breath.
"I'm sorry." She looks between me, Mica, and Asher, red-eyed and exhausted. "I'm so sorry. The power came so fast, and my conduit didn’t work, and I couldn't stop it, and I nearly hit three students, and I panicked.”
“Breathe, V.” Asher puts a hand on her shoulder. "We climbed a mountain for you. Activated ancient wind stairs. Stared down a guardian with a personal vendetta against your sister. It was all very dramatic, and we have zero complaints."
"And we'd do it again in a heartbeat," I tell her, and I mean it completely. "Yeah, your awakening got a little out of hand, but we’ll get you back to the healers and you’ll be fine."
"I made a thunderstorm."
"You made a great thunderstorm," Asher says. “Damn impressive for a first attempt. Very cinematic."
Violet laughs despite herself. "It was so powerful."
"Storm magic is," Mica says. “That's not a minor affinity. You’ll be a true force when you know what you're doing."
"Emphasis on when." Violet’s fear shifts into something that seems closer to pleased.
The matriarch stops a few feet away and regards all of us in turn with those enormous, fiery eyes. "She is not in control.”
I pull Violet to my side and step in front of her. “But she will be. Asher will teleport us straight to the Destiny Sphere, and Dr. Thorne and the healers will help her get the storm fully under control.”
When the matriarch doesn’t respond, Violet stiffens. “I feel better now that Poppy's here. I want to go back to the Academy so that the professors can help me, so I don't lose control again."
The matriarch looks at her for a long time.
Asher steps in behind me, lacing his fingers with mine. To the guardians, it might look like a show of support, but I know better. He’s ready to portal us out of here no matter what the matriarch decides.
But then her head dips, and her beautiful, feathered crown flutters in the breeze. “You may go. But make no mistake, if you lose control again, we will not be so understanding.”
Understanding? Everything in me wants to point out that they kidnapped her and exacerbated this entire situation, but I decide to quit while we seem to be ahead.
Violet exhales. "Thank you.”
With that, and before anyone can change their mind, I squeeze Asher’s hand and give him the nod. “Go.”